


The Recalcitrant Roommate of Donald Duck!

by CosmicTanzanite



Category: DuckTales (Cartoon 2017)
Genre: Developing Friendships, Gen, Roommates, They're learning how to get along
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-24
Updated: 2018-12-24
Packaged: 2019-09-26 03:27:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,291
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17134130
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CosmicTanzanite/pseuds/CosmicTanzanite
Summary: After rooming with Storkules, Donald has decided to hold off on having another roommate and allow himself some well-needed alone time.....that is, until his uncle's head inventor needs a place to stay.





	The Recalcitrant Roommate of Donald Duck!

It had been a week and a half, but Donald was finally able to find a suitable new home for Storkules, his old roommate. Sure, the whole process took a lot longer than he thought it would, for it was a bit hard to find a single-person apartment that was a good fit for the god, both literally and figuratively. But they’d finally done so which meant he no longer had to crash at Donald’s house boat anymore.    
  
At first, it was kind of a bittersweet situation. Although their relationship as roommates had started off a bit rocky to say the least, Donald had grown a bit fond of having Storkules around. However, after a few seconds of peace and quiet, the duck began to realize how much he missed it as well, possibly even more.    
  
While having a roommate did have one or two perks, Donald was very fond of his alone-time. To celebrate having it back full-time, he planned to take relaxing, warm shower and sing at the top of his lungs without having to worry about a much larger-than-average stork bursting down the door and tackling him because “it sounded like he was in the most horrible pain.” That was something that shouldn’t have happened more than once, let alone four or five times.   
  
Right as he stepped into the hot water and was about to blurt out the first note, a loud knock on the door almost made him jump out of his skin. Once the shock died down, he let out a long sigh, wanting so badly to ignore whoever it was but also knowing that most of the people here would probably break the door down anyway. Grumbling to himself, Donald turned off the water and wrapped a towel around his waist, lumbering out of the shower and toward the sound at a slow pace.   
  
The impatient and rapid knocking continued for a few seconds, and the duck was close to screaming that he was almost there until he heard it come to a stop. Pausing, he stood a few feet away from the door and listened. Did the visitor leave? The he noticed a new sound from outside, a small whirring one…   
  
Before he could study this further, the door burst open and startled him, almost causing him to drop his towel. Standing in the house boat’s doorway and holding a pen-like device in his hand was Gyro Gearloose, the head of research at McDuck Enterprises and quite possibly one of the last people Donald had expected to see.    
  
“Gyro?” the duck spat, clutching the towel as closely to him as he possibly could.   
  
“Oh! You are here,” Gyro spoke nonchalantly. “My apologies. I assumed you weren’t home when you ignored my knocking. You really should answer the door quicker.”   
  
Not wanting to deal with anything even remotely close to this guy’s sarcasm right now, Donald huffed in annoyance. “Why are you here? And how did you get into my house!?”   
  
“Well, for starters, I used my handy dandy laser pen to pick your lock in a bit of a creative way,” he informed him, holding the invention up proudly. Donald then heard the sound of what he presumed was his door knob hitting the ground, and Gyro smiled nervously. “And I suppose you might need a new door now. We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.”   
  
Donald narrowed his eyes. “Okay. But of all the places you could be right now, _ why are you here? _ ”   
  
“Geez, I was getting there! Calm down, Daniel.”   
  
“It’s Donald.”   
  
“Ah. Anyway, I was just coming to drop off my stuff,” the chicken continued. “A lot of it’s still back in the lab, but I thought I’d go ahead and bring what I could carry myself. Since I’d like to have my personal belongings moved into your place by tonight, maybe you and Mr. McDuck could help with the rest of it. Lifting heavy objects is one of the few things I’m not best at.”   
  
“Wait, what are you talking about!?” Donald demanded to know, unable to make sense of the other’s long-winded rambling.   
  
Gyro cocked his head to the side ever so slightly in confusion. “Didn’t Mr. McDuck tell you?”   
  
Donald opened his mouth to speak, but it was cut off by the sound of footsteps entering the house boat as Scrooge stepped inside, studying the door. “Curse me kilts, how’d that happen?”   
  
“You,” Donald sneered under his breath, walking up to his uncle with anger in his stare.   
  
Before he could speak to his nephew, Scrooge caught sight of Gyro and a shocked noise left his bill. “Gyro! You’re two hours early.”   
  
“I know. I like to get a head start on things.”   
  
The billionaire shook his head, glancing back to Donald. “Sorry about this, Donald.”   
  
“Will you please just tell me what’s going on!?” the furious duck demanded.    
  
Scrooge sighed. “I was supposed to tell you before he barged into your house, but Gyro was uh….well, he was unfortunately evicted from his apartment last night.”   
  
A bit surprised at the news, Donald turned to Gyro. “What did you do?”   
  
“Absolutely nothing wrong, that’s what!” Gyro was quick to defend himself, crossing his arms.    
  
Scrooge rolled his eyes. “You set the whole complex ablaze, lad! And apparently it was the fifth time you did it in the span of a whole month.”   
  
“I did not! The first time was Lil Bulb, the second time was the fault of the telemarketer who called me while I was cooking, the third time was Lil Bulb, the fourth time was-”   
  
“Save it,” Scrooge cut in. “What matters is that they are not gonna be too keen in lettin’ you back in that place.” He turned back to his nephew, drawing out what he had to say. “Anyway, since he no longer has a home, Gyro needs a place to stay. And since your old roommate just moved out, I figured it’d only be fair that you provide one for him.”   
  
For a moment, Donald couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He allowed his eyes to dart from Scrooge to Gyro, then back to Scrooge as he processed the news, clenching his fists tightly as he took in the two smug expressions staring him down.   
  
“Oh no. Oh no, no, no, no, no-”   
  
“Now, Donald. We-”   
  
“NO!” the duck burst out, trudging toward Gyro and trying his hardest to shove him out the door. “He is  _ not _ staying here!”   
  
“Hey, watch it!” the chicken protested, trying to stand his ground but not proving to be the best at that when he almost lost his footing.   
  
“Donald!” Scrooge scolded, pulling the duck off the other and holding him back. “Calm yourself!”   
  
“You can’t do this to me!” Donald retorted, turning on Scrooge. “I just got rid of one crazy roommate, and I am not taking in another.  _ Ever. _ ”   
  
“But it’s the only place he has!”   
  
“I mean,” Gyro spoke up, “I told you I could stay in the lab if this arrangement wasn’t favorable. All my stuff is in there anyway.”   
  
“Gyro, for the last time, you can’t stay in a lab your whole life!” Scrooge groaned, thoroughly annoyed.    
  
“I can too!”    
  
“Yeah! He can!” Donald piped up. “Listen to him!”   
  
Scrooge rubbed at his forehead. “He is  _ not _ staying in that lab all day. It’s bad for his health. Plus, if anyone finds out, they’ll accuse me of overworking my employees and make me give them more vacation days.” The duck shuddered at the thought.    
  
“What about the mansion?” Donald offered. “Don’t you have a thousand rooms open in that thing?”   
  
“I do, but I don’t fancy my whole place catchin’ fire.”   
  
“Well, neither do I!” Donald rubbed at his forehead. “C’mon, there’s gotta be other places for him to live! What about with Launchpad?”   
  
“I don’t want my garage to catch fire either.”   
  
“Fenton?”   
  
“I don’t wish that on the poor lad.”   
  
“...Glomgold?”   
  
“Oh, please, even Gyro has more dignity than that.”   
  
“You do know I’m right here, don’t you?” Gyro added, but he was ignored.   
  
Donald sighed in defeat, finally accepting that he didn’t have much of a say in this. “Okay. I’ll take him in. But,” he whipped around to face the inventor, pointing a finger in his direction, “you will abide by my rules. And if you break one of them, I’m throwing you out!”   
  
Gyro flashed a rather awkward smile. “One seems a bit harsh, now doesn’t it?”   
  
Furrowing his brow, Donald sighed again. “Fine. Three.” He shoved three of his fingers in the chicken’s face. “If you break three rules, you’re outta here.”   
  
Gyro gave a nervous chuckle. “O-Okay! Three rules. I can do that! I can do anything! I can-”   
  
“We get it,” Donald stopped him, looking back to Scrooge. “Is that okay with you?”   
  
The billionaire shrugged. “Seems fair. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to head to the bin for a board meeting.” He adjusted his top hat. “Gyro, don’t blow Donald’s house up. Donald, don’t kill Gyro even if he does. I need him. Oh, and put some clothes on.”   
  
“Whatever you say, Mr. McDuck,” Gyro answered before turning back to his boxes.   
  
However, Donald just gave a displeased thumbs-up, watching his uncle walk away with nothing but thoughts of dread, misery and how he most definitely would not last a day with both his sanity and this absolute nutjob as his roommate.   
  


\---

 

After Gyro had moved most of his stuff in, he had to go back to the lab to finish a few things for work. It left Donald with a bit of peace, but he was so disturbed by what was happening that he couldn’t really enjoy it. He took his shower, but he didn’t feel like singing. Although he’d had a talk with Gyro about what he was allowed to do and what he was not allowed to do before the other had left, he wasn’t exactly sure what had sunk in and what hadn’t. The inventor sure did like to argue and ask for specifics, which got on the duck’s last nerve.    
  
But maybe it would go smoothly. Donald was prone to bad luck, sure, but he didn’t really know much about Gyro at all. In fact, he could be the best roommate ever if he kept to himself as much as it appeared he did. Perhaps everything was going to be fine.   
  
Donald got maybe thirty seconds of positive thinking in before he heard the sound of pots and pans falling onto his kitchen floor and almost immediately rushed to the noise’s source, cursing Gyro’s name underneath his breath.    
  
When he got there, he noticed the scientist frantically trying to put the pots and pans back up in the cupboard they’d fallen from. There was also a boiling pot on the stove.   
  
“What are you doing?” Donald was quick to confront his roommate as he approached him.   
  
“Oh! Nothing to see here,” Gyro said with a nervous laugh, shoving the last few pans into the cupboard and closing it as quickly as he could. “I’m just making dinner.”   
  
Donald peered into the pot, screwing up his face in confusion at what he saw. “What is that?”   
  
“Ramen.” The chicken then opened the next cabinet in the cupboard, frowning as he surveyed its contents. “You don’t have any peanut butter?”   
  
Donald stared at him for a while. “B-But….I thought you were making ramen?”   
  
“I am.”   
  
“I….” The duck rolled his eyes. “It’s in the cabinet to your right.”   
  
While his roommate was looking around in the cabinet, Donald heard what sounded like very small footsteps approaching him. Startled, he glanced to the ground to see a small robot with a lightbulb-shaped head, holding a bottle of ketchup in its hands.    
  
Gyro seemed to hear them as well, for once he’d located the peanut butter and took it out of the cupboard, he turned around to set his eyes on the small robot. A smile spread across his beak when he noticed what it was carrying.   
  
“Great work, Lil Bulb!” he complimented the bot, who gave him a thumbs-up in response.    
  
“Oh no!” Donald suddenly cut in, roughly picking the small robot up in his hand. “I said no pets!”   
  
An offended gasp left Gyro’s throat, and he turned to Donald with an enraged look in his eyes. “Excuse me!? Did you just call my most treasured and trusted invention a pet? I’ll have you know that  _ Lil Bulb _ , as you can and will address him, is not only one of my top-performing creations but a dear member of the Gearloose family, and I will not sit around and listen to you patronize him that way, you hear me!?”   
  
Cocking a brow in slight confusion, the duck let out a frustrated groan. “Sounds like a pet to me!” he spat.   
  
The small robot began to glow a bright red and delivered a surprisingly hard punch to Donald’s bill. He let out a scream of surprise, dropping Lil Bulb on the floor in an attempt to get him away. This resulted in another shocked noise from Gyro, who bent over to pick up and cradle his invention.    
  
“How dare you treat my invention in such an unfavorable way!” Gyro scolded Donald, who was rubbing his sore bill. “He has feelings too, you know.”   
  
“That thing clocked me!”   
  
“Well, maybe you deserved it!” Placing the bot on the table, Gyro bent over to pick the bottle of ketchup off the ground.    
  
Realizing that Lil Bulb was making a fist at him, Donald came to the conclusion that evicting him would possibly result in his untimely death. He groaned in defeat.   
  
“Fine. The robot can say.”   
  
“That’s _ Lil Bulb _ to you,” Gyro snapped back, squirting a copious amount of ketchup in the ramen he was making.    
  
“Whatever,” Donald muttered under his breath. Then, as he watched Gyro make possibly the most unappetizing thing he had ever laid eyes on his own kitchen, something popped into his head. “Wait a minute...where did he get the…?”   
  
He turned around to the cabinet where he typically kept his condiments and sauces and saw a hole in the middle of the door that appeared to have been lasered into the wood. Growling, he flipped around to glare daggers at Gyro, pointing to the damage. When the chicken set eyes on what his invention had caused, he looked shocked at first but soon curled his beak into a nervous smile.   
  
“Heh...oops. I apologize for that,” he squeaked, wringing his hands. “Lil Bulb has the tendency to um, underestimate the amount of damage he can do which often causes-”   
  
“I don’t want to hear it!” Donald snapped. “That’s one rule broken. You’ve got two more to go, or else you’re outta here!”   
  
“But I didn’t do that!”   
  
“Your robot, your responsibility!” Huffing, the duck headed toward the door, grabbing for his coat. “I’m eating out tonight.”   
  
Once Donald had stormed out of their shared quarters, Gyro scolded Lil Bulb and sent him to his room. He then added five spoonfuls of peanut butter and a pinch of salt to the ramen before eating it out of the pot like a starved animal, as he did almost every night.

 

\---

 

When he returned from dinner, Donald didn’t see a single trace of Gyro or his nettlesome invention. He figured that they were both back in the lab, as he’d remembered the chicken saying something about going in late to work sometimes. Allowing himself to breathe a sigh of relief, Donald decided it’d be in his best interest to go to bed a bit early tonight. After all he’d been through, he deserved it.    
  
As soon as he lay down in his hammock and shut his eyes, the duck was out like a light. It felt like the most wonderful sleep he’d had in a while, for he was able to just let himself relax for a few hours and not have to worry about sharing a house boat with a mad scientist….   
  
That was, until he woke up at 5 in the morning to something crashing around in his bathroom and almost instantly felt a sense of dread take him over as he came back to reality.    
  
Panicked, Donald leapt from his hammock and rushed into the bathroom as quickly as he possibly could. When he arrived and swung the door open, he saw no other than his very own madman of a roommate wielding some sort of ray gun in his hand. Lil Bulb set attentively on his shoulder.    
  
Gyro turned around when the door opened, furrowing his brow when he saw who was greeting him. “Hey, I thought you were in bed!”   
  
“And I thought I told you not to use any of your dangerous machines in my house,” Donald scolded, crossing his arms and tapping his foot.   
  
The inventor rolled his eyes. “I’m well aware of that. This “dangerous machine” is just a harmless shrink ray. It’s an updated version of the one I brought to the mansion a while back.”   
  
“You mean the one that almost got us all killed by a civilization of tiny people?”   
  
“....Yes,” Gyro admitted, his face lighting up again soon after. “But, I assure you, this one is much more stable! I’ve been working on perfecting it all night until Mr. McDuck kicked me out of the lab a few minutes ago because he’s “worried for my health” or something.” He waved his hand. “But never mind that. Watch this!”   
  
He whipped around, aiming the shrink ray right at the shower and pressing a button on the contraption. It made a whirring noise and a blast of blue light zapped in the shower’s direction. Donald watched as it became smaller and smaller until he wasn’t even sure it existed anymore.    
  
Almost immediately, the duck let out a shriek of anger and shock as he ran over to where his shower should be. “What did you do!?”   
  
“I shrunk it, obviously!” Gyro replied excitedly. “Isn’t it amazing?”   
  
“No!” Donald snapped. “I need that!  _ You  _ need that!”   
  
“Actually, I prefer to take my showers in the lab. The emergency wash station’s water pressure is significantly better than that of the shower back at my old apartment, and I eventually got used to-”   
  
“Can you unshrink it?!”    
  
“Of course I can! Who do you think you’re talking to here? Good lord,” Gyro muttered under his breath as he fiddled with the invention, smiling wide. However, his grin soon began to falter, and he began to look over the entire ray, expression getting grimmer by the second.   
  
“What is it?”    
  
“Hmmmm….well, it appears I’ve forgotten to add a reverse button,” Gyro confessed. “This is….quite unfortunate.”   
  
It was taking every fiber of Donald’s being to not strangle the inventor right then and there as he took in what he said. His emotions were apparently clear because Gyro instantly cut in once he took a single look at his face.   
  
“I mean, not to worry! I can fix your shower! Just give me a few days to get the reverse feature added, and I’ll-”   
  
“A few days!?” Donald growled, clenching his fists.   
  
“Yes, a few days! You can’t rush genius, Donald.”    
  
“But I need to take a shower tomorrow!” The duck took a deep breath, trying to calm his nerves before speaking again, getting so close to Gyro as he did that their beaks were almost pressed together. “That’s two strikes. One more, and you’re out, Gyro! Got it?”   
  
“Okay, okay! Geez!” Gyro groaned, looking rather frustrated at the other’s anger. “No need to get so touchy.”   
  
Biting into the bottom of his beak, Donald heaved a sigh and turned around. “Now go to bed. And keep your crummy inventions in the lab and out of my house!”   
  
Once Donald had gone back to his sleeping quarters, Lil Bulb and Gyro exchanged glances. As Gyro placed the shrink ray on Donald’s bathroom counter, his invention buzzed something that only his creator could understand.   
  
“Now, now, Lil Bulb,” Gyro responded, “I know he doesn’t understand my intellectual abilities, as nobody ever does, but we have to keep things civil. I need a place to live, and I don’t trust you alone in the lab. Not after last time.” He shuddered. “Never after last time….”   
  
The robot gave a whirr of frustration. Gyro rolled his eyes. “Lil Bulb, I know you’re upset, but we’ve got to listen to him. You know I don’t care for being his roommate either. However, it’s much better than winding up living on the streets!” He groaned. “Oh, if only there was a way for me to kiss up to him, so he doesn’t kick me out at the soonest chance he gets.”   
  
Sighing, the chicken leaned over and placed his elbow on the counter without looking. He accidentally pressed the button on the shrink ray, which fired right at the tube of toothpaste sitting by the sink and much like the shower, shrunk it until it appeared to be no more. Blinking in disbelief, Gyro hastily jolted up and grabbed the invention before it could do further damage. Once he was sure it was under control, he nervously looked to Lil Bulb, who was giving him the best disappointed look he could muster.   
  
“If he asks, we don’t know what happened to it. If he gets persistent, we buy him more during lunch break tomorrow. Got it?”   
  
If Lil Bulb could roll his eyes, he would have.    
  


\---   
  


Luckily for Donald, the next morning started off well despite how rough the day before was. Gyro had gone back to his lab for work by the time he’d woken up and was still nowhere in sight. Since he’d momentarily found himself in solitude, Donald decided to cook up a nice breakfast. Not only did he deserve it, but cooking helped calm his nerves unless he had to do it under pressure, such as preparing family meals. However, that wasn’t the case. It was just him right now, and he was bound to make sure Gyro didn’t get even a crumb of the delicious pancakes he was whipping up.   
  
He idly hummed as he went through the process of cooking them. Since he wasn’t in a terrible mood, he decided he’d try to make one shaped like a heart. He’d always try to when he made them for the boys, but it never came out right. So far, his heart was looking better than the previous ones had, but when he was almost done with it, the sudden bursting open of his front door scared him and caused him to squirt the rest of the batter out quite forcefully, making the heart look more like a misshapen glob.   
  
“Oh, Donald!” a surprisingly cheery voice sounded from the doorway. “I’ve got something for you!”   
  
Gripping a spatula in anger and trying his best not to snap out of his good mood, the duck whipped his head around to see his roommate standing close to him with a goofy grin on his beak and Lil Bulb sitting on his shoulder as usual. He was also holding an invention that looked similar to the shrink ray in his hand, which made Donald seeth.   
  
“You!” he snapped. “I thought I told you no more inventions!”   
  
“You did,” Gyro replied, holding his hands up as Lil Bulb hopped off his shoulder and onto the counter. “However, this is a special kind of invention!”   
  
Donald narrowed his eyes. “Oh yeah? And how so?”   
  
“Well, since I feel very remorseful about accidentally shrinking our shower last night and definitely for reasons other than me simply needing a place to stay, I decided to get to work on something that would fix it, and I think I’ve finally got it!” He glanced to the invention he held with a smile on his face.    
  
The duck’s expression changed to something a little more interested. “You did?”   
  
“Of course I did! It’s a little rusty, but-”   
  
“Can he watch the pancakes?” Donald pointed to Lil Bulb, who was studying the cooking food curiously.    
  
Gyro chuckled. “He can, yes. Now if you’re asking if he will, that’s another-”   
  
“I’ll be taking that!”   
  
The chicken was cut off when Donald suddenly grabbed the invention from his hands and made a mad dash for the bathroom. Letting out a panicked gasp, Gyro immediately rushed after him.   
  
“Donald! What are you doing!?”   
  
“Taking matters into my own hands!” the duck called back. “Every time you touch something, you screw it up! I’m going to fix this problem myself!”   
  
Once he reached the bathroom, Donald tried to shut the door behind him. However, Gyro was surprisingly quick, and before he could, the inventor’s foot was in the middle of it, and he was pressing his way through the crack.    
  
“You don’t know how to work my complicated technology!” he scoffed, fighting his way through. “You used to lock yourself in the pantry!”   
  
“That was one time!”   
  
“Twice, actually. Now, give me back  _ my _ invention!”    
  
“No!”   
  
Gyro practically leapt at Donald, attempting to pry the invention out of his hands, but the duck was persistent and tried his hardest to throw him off. They tussled to no avail for a few minutes until Donald finally gave Gyro a particularly hard shove that freed him. Not having time to figure out how to work the invention, he trusted his luck and aimed it at where the shower should be, pressing down on a button.    
  
“No!” the inventor tried to warm him, but it was too late.    
  
Donald watched as his shower started to grow bigger and bigger and bigger and definitely didn’t stop when it was the size it should be. He winced when he heard the telltale cracking of wood and didn’t have much time to think before he felt Gyro grab him by the back of the shirt and pull him out of the way. The chicken yanked him almost to the other side of the hall, and they stood there as the shower grew just a little bit more, enough to successfully destroy the entire bathroom, before it finally stopped.    
  
For a second, neither could even speak. They looked ahead, slack-jawed at the sight. And then, naturally, Donald lost his marbles.    
  
“My bathroom!” he screamed, turning on Gyro. “What did you do to my bathroom!?”   
  
“Me?” the inventor was quick to defend himself. “That was your doing! I tried to warn you that the switch on the underside of the ray gun that controls just how big the item you aim it at becomes was set to maximum, but you waved me off!”   
  
“Switch!?” Donald fumed. “Why didn’t you tell me there was a switch?”   
  
Gyro raised an eyebrow. “You didn’t ask.”   
  
His sassy response was enough to send Donald over the edge, and he jumped up in down in frustration, ranting and screeching incoherently. Gyro watched the tantrum with narrowed eyes, feeling a little too old to even be witnessing it. Soon, he felt something climbing up his back and was greeted by Lil Bulb on his shoulder. He looked to the invention, who gave him a wave and buzzed.    
  
“Ha!” the chicken snorted. “Nice one, Lil Bulb. But no, Mr. McDuck has known him for some time, so the chances of him actually being a five-year-old who somehow got a hold of my age-control ray from all those years ago are slim. In fact, I don’t even think I have the blueprints for….wait, if you’re here, then who’s watching the….”   
  
The bitter stench of smoke soon became present in the air, and judging by the sudden shocked expression on Donald’s face, as well as the fact that he’d finally stopped throwing a fit, it wasn’t just Gyro who smelled it. Both birds exchanged skeptical glances until the loud beeping of the smoke detector let them know it wasn’t just in their heads.

 

“My house!” Donald exclaimed, shoveling his way past Gyro and Lil Bulb and rushing into the kitchen. Gyro ran after, making sure the robot was secured on his shoulder as he did so.   
  
When he reached the kitchen, he saw the duck attempting to put out a rather large fire that had already spread pretty far with a hardly working fire extinguisher. Knowing he had to act as quick as possible, he used all of his lacking upper-arm strength to grab Donald and start hoisting him away.    
  
“Come on!” the inventor hissed, struggling toward the nearest window near the back of the boat as fast as he could.   
  
“But my house!” Donald protested.   
  
“We don’t have time!”    
  
Within the span of a few seconds, the two found themselves shoving their bodies through a tight window and into the pool. Both had little to no problem swimming to the shore, and luckily, Mr. McDuck and Mrs. Beakley had already seen the fire and were working hard to put it out. It could have been a lot worse, but it had certainly spread to a lot of the boat by now. And the living space would need quite a few repairs before it was able to be inhabited again. And some of their belongings were probably no more.   
  
Gyro tried to mentally list everything he’d moved into the apartment compared to what he had in the lab. There were some clothes, cooking supplies, toiletries, mostly essentials that could easily be replaced. He couldn’t help but sigh in relief when he remembered that he’d actually left his banjo in the lab last night after he took it there early in the morning to relieve stress without the risk of bothering Donald. In fact, the only invention other than the one he held in his hand was….   
  
“Lil Bulb!?” A lump of panic rose in the inventor’s throat as he realized the robot was no longer on his shoulder. “Lil Bulb? Where did you-”   
  
His words cut off when he felt something tugging at his pants leg and looked down to see his beloved robot, holding a stick with a toasted marshmallow on the end of it. Lil Bulb offered the snack to him.   
  
“Oh thank goodness!” Gyro breathed, taking the stick from the invention’s hand and munching on the marshmallow. “You really had me worried there, Lil Bulb.”   
  
The tiny robot shrugged and walked over to the side of the pool, where he sat and curiously watched the commotion. Gyro watched him with a smile on his face, but it later turned into a frown when he caught sight of someone by the pool.   
  
Donald was standing a few feet away from him, holding his hat and watching as the last flame was put out. However, it was still obvious that not everything of his could be salvaged. And in a way, Gyro knew he was to blame. Heaving a sigh, he made his way over to his roommate, heart thudding in his chest as he tried to think of something to say that wouldn’t make the other snap at him.   
  
“So….” he began, “I apologize for….that, and if-”   
  
“Go away, Gyro,” Donald answered, in a voice that was more melancholy than anything else. “I want to be alone.”   
  
The chicken opened his mouth to say something else, but after taking one look at Donald’s hopeless, defeated face, he realized it would be best if he did what the other wanted. Nodding and not saying another word, he made his way back to where Lil Bulb sat and motioned for the invention to hop onto his shoulder. Once he was there, Gyro decided to retreat to the lab until further notice.

 

\---

 

When Donald entered the lab, it was almost completely dark. The only lights presents were the ones belonging to the various inventions the chicken had scattered around his workplace. It wasn’t enough for him to see the floor, however, so he had to step around carefully, not wanting to accidentally set anything off.    
  
He’d made it a few steps without any mishaps, but suddenly, he came down on something that jolted upward with a loud squawk. Donald screamed in surprise, nearly falling over as he leapt backward and cowered in fear of whatever he stepped on being one of the inventor’s evil contraptions. When nothing started to hack away at him, he cracked his eyes open to make out a Gyro-shaped shadow looming in front of him.   
  
“Cabrera?” it questioned tiredly, giving away what (or rather, who) it was. “I told you not to bother me. I’m trying to-”   
  
“It’s me,” Donald cut him off.    
  
Gyro didn’t reply right away. Instead, he made his way over to his desk, where he turned on a lamp he had sitting there. While it didn’t light up the whole lab, it illuminated the area well enough. Donald noticed that he was still wearing the same outfit he seemed to have on every day, but it was a lot more wrinkled than usual. He also realized that there was a sleeping bag right in front of him, and it looked as if it had been used recently.    
  
“You sleep in that?” he asked, studying it.   
  
“Sometimes,” Gyro informed him, making his way back to stand by it and look down at it as well. “And all times now, I suppose.”   
  
“Oh....”   
  
There was a pause before Gyro spoke.

  
“So I take it you’re here to tell me I broke a rule for the third time, and therefore, you never want to see me again, correct?”   
  
Donald sighed. “No.”   
  
The look on Gyro’s face changed to one of genuine shock. “But I brought one of my inventions into your house which indirectly caused a fire. I’m sure that counts as breaking the third rule. When we talked, you told me that-”   
  
“Save it,” the duck stopped him, waving his hands. “What happened today was my fault. And even then, I was really hard on you.” He rubbed his arm and looked away. “I’m sorry.”   
  
Gyro cocked his head in confusion. “So you’re not going to kick me out?”   
  
“Nah.” Donald glanced to him again, trying his best to smile. “Just...maybe promise again to keep all your inventions in the lab unless I ask for one?”   
  
The inventor slightly smiled back. “Thank you, but I’m all set. I talked to Mr. McDuck about it, and we both agreed it’d be best if I moved back into my old apartment complex.”   
  
“What?” Donald blinked. “But I thought he said there was no way for that to happen?”   
  
“Oh please, I thought we all knew he was trying to teach me a lesson about respecting other people’s spaces or something,” Gyro scoffed. “Of course he can get it back! He’s the richest duck in the world. If he demands something, especially from an apartment complex that will do anything to get as much money from you as they possibly can, he’s going to get it. According to him, I should have a place by tomorrow.”   
  
“Ah….” The duck sighed, feeling strangely remorseful. “I’m sorry.”   
  
“Why are you sorry? I missed living alone!” He gave an apologetic glance to the other. “No offense to you or anything. I’ve just never been the type to enjoy having a roommate. It always stifles my natural creative flow. I’m much better off having a place to myself.”   
  
Donald grinned. “Oh, no! I understand completely! I’m not too fond of having a roommate either.”   
  
“You aren’t?” he asked sarcastically. “I didn’t notice.” Gyro sighed happily, getting back into his sleeping bag. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got some rest to catch up on. I’ll see you around?”   
  
“Yeah. You will.” Donald’s smile dropped. “Y’know...I’m still not quite sure where I’m gonna sleep tonight.”   
  
The chicken looked up. “Why not the mansion?”   
  
“It’s too chaotic. There’s a reason I kept my boat, you know.”   
  
“Understandable. Well, Launchpad will probably let you stay in the garage.”   
  
He shuddered. “No thanks.”   
  
“Hmmm….do you know Cabrera?”   
  
“Not well enough.” Donald heaved a sigh, turning to walk away. “Don’t worry about me. Sleep well, Gyro.”   
  
However, while he was shuffling toward the elevator, Gyro’s voice stopped him in his tracks.   
  
“Do you see that little couch over there to your right?”   
  
Donald looked in the direction, his eyes falling on what the other was talking about. “What about it?”   
  
“It was a gift from Launchpad. He got it for me because I kept falling asleep at my desk all night, and he was worried about my back. However, he failed to realize that half my body hangs off of it when I try to use it.” He snorted. “But you should be able to fit.”   
  
Once everything Gyro was saying to him sunk in, Donald’s eyes grew wide in surprise. “You mean….?”   
  
“Why are you surprised? You offered me your living space. I suppose it’s only fair I do the same.” Gyro smiled. “I mean, that’s how hospitality works, right?”   
  
“I think so.”   
  
Finding himself wearing an even wider smile than normal, Donald walked over to turn off the lamp on Gyro’s desk and made his way toward the couch. Once he’d settled down, he noted that it wasn’t as comfortable as his hammock, but it beat sleeping on the ground. Before he closed his eyes, he let them wander toward the general direction of Gyro’s sleeping bag.   
  
“Good night, Gyro,” he called.   
  
“Mmmmm,” the other muttered, sounding half-asleep already. “You too.”   
  
There was a brief pause before the duck spoke again.    
  
“Oh, and….thank you.”   
  
Nobody replied, but little did Donald know his words were the last thing Gyro heard before he closed his eyes for the night.   



End file.
